South Alabama senior guard Chaze Harris has been named the Sun Belt Conference Player of the Year and earned First Team All-Sun Belt honors, according to an announcement from the league office. Junior forward Adam Olsen was also recognized as a member of the All-Sun Belt Second Team.
Harris led the Sun Belt in scoring with an average of 18.9 points per game and increased that to 22.0 points per game during conference play. He scored in double figures in 29 games, achieved three 30-point performances, had twelve 20-point games, and recorded seven games with at least 25 points. Harris scored a season-high 38 points twice—once against ULM and once against Arkansas State.
In addition to his scoring, Harris ranked third in assists per game (4.7) and second in steals per game (1.9) during conference matchups. He recorded fifteen games with five or more assists, maintained a 1.5 assist-to-turnover ratio, and averaged over thirty-one minutes on the court each game.
Olsen finished as one of the top scorers in the conference with a total of 502 points, averaging 16.7 points overall and 17.1 during league play. He led all players with ninety-nine made three-pointers for the season, tying South Alabama’s single-season record set in 2002, and ranked seventeenth nationally for threes made per game at 3.30. Olsen shot just over thirty-nine percent from beyond the arc—leading the Sun Belt—and placed fifty-ninth nationally in this category.
Within conference play alone, Olsen made sixty-one three-pointers at a rate of thirty-seven percent accuracy. He led all players with fifteen games scoring twenty or more points and played more minutes than anyone else in the Sun Belt at thirty-six minutes per contest—averaging nearly forty minutes during conference action.
Harris is now the first South Alabama player since Augustine Rubit in 2013 to receive Player of the Year honors from the Sun Belt Conference.
The complete list of postseason awards includes:
“Player of the Year: Chaze Harris, South Alabama”
“Defensive Player of the Year: Luke Wilson, App State”
“Newcomer of the Year: Joshua Beadle, Coastal Carolina”
“Freshman of the Year: D.J. Hall, Texas State”
“Sixth Man of the Year: Joey Chammaa, Arkansas State”
“Joe Gottfried Coach of the Year: Scott Cross, Troy”
All-Sun Belt First Team selections are:
“Joshua Beadle, Coastal Carolina”
“Thomas Dowd, Troy”
“Wyatt Fricks, Marshall”
“Chaze Harris, South Alabama”
“Tylik Weeks, Southern Miss”
All-Sun Belt Second Team honorees include:
“D.J. Hall, Texas State”
“Jelani Hamilton, Georgia State”
“Kasen Jennings, App State”
“Adam Olsen, South Alabama”
“Jalen Speer, Marshall”
Third team members are:
“Cliff Davis, James Madison”
“Alonzo Dodd, App State”
“Christian Harmon, Arkansas State”
“Justin McBride, James Madison
Victor Valdes, Troy”
For more information about South Alabama men’s basketball or updates on social media coverage visit usajaguars.com.
